Hot Topics:

County commissioner discusses shutdown and national park closures

The county commissioner served 30 years as law enforcement ranger for the National Park Service

By Mark Walters

mwalters@eveningsun.com @walt_walters on Twitter

Posted:
10/12/2013 03:50:51 PM EDT

One Adams County commissioner said he is frustrated by the National Park Service being forced to close its paths, roadways and monuments due to the federal government shutdown.

Randy Phiel, who served 30 years as a law enforcement ranger with the National Park Service, said he does not like how the park service is being used as a political pawn to gain media attention during the shutdown.

"To me, this is an embarrassment," Phiel said. "It's disappointing to our community and to the nation."

The shutdown has attracted plenty of attention to Adams County, with the 6,000-acre Gettysburg National Military Park closed to the public.

When he was a law enforcement ranger, Phiel said there were government shutdowns, but none that denied foot traffic in the parks.

"It is obvious that not being able to see the spot where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, not being able to experience the Grand Canyon and Statue of Liberty gets folks' attention," Phiel said.

He said barring foot traffic from the Gettysburg battlefield is over the top since law enforcement and maintenance personnel are still on duty as essential staff.

Advertisement

But, Phiel noted, the staff is merely following instructions handed down from a litany of higher-ups. Commands directing law enforcement officers come from the administration, he explained, and go to the secretary of the interior (Sally Jewell), to the director of the park service (Jonathan Jarvis), to the Northeast regional director (Dennis Reidenbach), to Bob Kirby, Gettysburg park superintendent.

The law enforcement rangers, Phiel said, are on the front lines, denying foot traffic on federal property and keeping roads closed.

"This is tough on them," Phiel said.

And as stores and hotels in and around Gettysburg see less visitors than an Adams County autumn typically draws, Phiel pointed to the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19 as potentially being adversely impacted by the shutdown.

Speculation of President Barack Obama coming to Gettysburg for the sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg Address has surfaced. While the president has not formally declined an invitation, he also has not formally accepted one either.

Katie Lawhon, a spokesperson for the park service, is currently furloughed and unable to comment.

"This is damaging, frustrating and an embarrassment to us as a community and a nation," Phiel said.

Phiel was a Cumberland Township supervisor before he became commissioner chair in 2012. He is also the event director for the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee's annual Gettysburg battle re-enactment.

Mark Walters covers Adams County for The Evening Sun. Contact him at 717-637-3736 ext. 147.